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Harriet Page Wheeler (1803-1871)
}} Biography Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 2, p. 481 Harriet Page Wheeler Decker Young, one of the three original pioneer women of Utah was in a sense the matriarch of the three, as she was the actual mother of one of them, Clara, President Brigham Young's wife. Early Years She was born of Welsh ancestry on September 7, 1803, at Hillsboro, New Hampshire, a daughter of Oliver Wheeler and Hannah Ashby, and was reared in Salem, Massachusetts, her mother's home, and after a brief schooling, was employed in one of the local mills, where she became an expert spinner of flax and wool. Schoolteacher When she was seventeen, she moved to Ontario County, New York, where she taught school in the vicinity of the Hill Cumorah. Here she met Isaac Decker, to whom she was married in 1821. She bore him six children, four girls and two boys. Conversion to Mormonism In late spring 1830, was the First Missionary Journey of Samuel Smith to the nearby town of Mendon, NY. At the time it was thought this mission was a failure since he could only hand out just one Book of Mormon and was otherwise met with much rejection and discouragement. But in just two years time, that one book would come into the hands of the Greene, Young and Kimball families which would be the source by which many thousands would join the new church and also the source of many future prominent church leaders. Move to Ohio For a time she lived with her first husband at Freedom, N. Y., and in 1833 removed to Portage County, Ohio, where they became members of the Mormon Church. Subsequently, the Deckers took up land near Kirtland, Ohio, and acquired considerable prosperity, only to lose everything in the catastrophe which overtook the Saints in 1837. For the journey to Missouri they were furnished a team by Lorenzo Dow Young. Still hounded by disaster, they fled from the new Zion to Quincy, Illinois, and ultimately settled in Nauvoo. Here, Harriet separated from Isaac Decker and married Lorenzo Young, March 9, 1843. 1847 Utah Pioneer Two children issued from this union. After sharing in the expulsion from Nauvoo, Harriet was permitted to remain with Lorenzo when he was chosen as one of the original pioneers in the spring of 1847, because she was in delicate health and her husband was afraid she would die if he left her in the Missouri bottoms. After she came to Utah Harriet became indispensable to the life of Lorenzo Young, seeing after his business, keeping his books, and otherwise aiding him, in addition to her duties as housewife. After living a noble and useful life, she died in Salt Lake City, December 22, 1871. Marriage & Family 1st Marriage: Isaac Decker When she was seventeen, she moved to Ontario County, New York, where she taught school in the vicinity of the Hill Cumorah. Here she met Isaac Decker, to whom she was married in 1821. She bore him six children, four girls and two boys. For a time she lived with her first husband at Freedom, N. Y., and in 1833 removed to Portage County, Ohio, where they became members of the Mormon Church. # Lucy Ann Decker (1822-1890) - plural wife to Mormon Prophet, Brigham Young (1801-1877). # Charles Franklin Decker (1824-1901) - md Margaret Jane Maxfield # Marriet Amelia Decker (1826-1917) - md Mormon pioneer Ephraim Hanks # Clarissa Clara Decker (1828-) = plural wife to Mormon Prophet, Brigham Young (1801-1877) and was also one of three women in first mormon pioneer company to 1847 Utah. # Fannie Maria Decker (1830-1881) - md Feramorz Little # Isaac Perry Decker (1840-1916) - md Elizabeth Ogden 2nd Marriage: Lorenzo Dow Young After her separation from Isaac (1842?), she married Lorenzo Dow Young (1807-1895), in Nauvoo, Illinois, he being the younger brother of the future Mormon Prophet, Brigham Young (1801-1877). Had 2 or 3 children that died very young. Category:Mormon pioneers Category:Utah pioneers